


Hook and line

by i_gaze_at_scully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Minor Character Death, POV Minor Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 19:26:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18288716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_gaze_at_scully/pseuds/i_gaze_at_scully
Summary: In Tempus Fugit, on Scully's birthday, Agent Pendrell tells Scully he has something for her. What was it?





	Hook and line

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by @kateyes224 on tumblr's rewatch musings: https://i-gaze-at-scully.tumblr.com/post/182489508365/random-rewatch-musings-s4e17-poor-pendrell-the

Museums. They’re a dime a dozen in D.C.. Agent Scully -  _Dana_ , if he’s going to go through with this and ask her out -  _Dana_  has probably been to each of them a million times, probably strolled around with her pretty glasses on, her heels click clacking softly in the galleries. She’s probably already seen them all, but god he’d kill to see them with her.

Back in October he thought that maybe this year he’d get her something for her birthday. He finally got his name on the office card last year, but it isn’t personal enough.

He’s not blind. Agent Mulder hovers around her like the air she breathes is the only air in the room. And Agent Scully -  _Dana_ , shit - looks at him like… well. A man can dream.

Maybe this is a bad idea.

But it isn’t, because Agent Mulder doesn’t  _own_  her, and she isn’t  _seeing_  anyone, and she’s fully capable of making her own decisions about maybe potentially seeing Pendrell. And maybe all she needs is to finally  _see_  him. So he just has to make himself seen.

The Naval Observatory isn’t quite a museum, so there’s a chance she hasn’t been. There’s a chance she doesn’t want to go, but he’s trying not to think about that. Clearance to visit is tough to get without both people there, even with their FBI credentials. But he gets it. The Sunday after her birthday. He figures she already had plans Friday and Saturday and didn’t want to risk being turned down for that. But he also doesn’t want to intrude on her free time.  _Get it together man._

He gets up the nerve to ask. If she’d been to the Naval Observatory, that is. Great news is that she hadn’t. Not so great news is that her head was buried in a file when she responded and he’s not sure she even knew who asked.

He had a girlfriend in high school that once told him not to worry so much, that he was sweet and kind and fun. She ended up moving away, his first real heartbreak, but he tries to remember that because she was right. He takes a deep breath and shakes his sweaty palms out at his side as the elevator door dings open.

It’s only when he gets to her basement office door, passes in hand, that he realizes he has no entry plan. Fuck. 

The door swings open and she bumps right into him, startling them both. “Oh!” She exclaims, taking a step back. “Agent Pendrell, I didn’t see you, sorry.” The flush in her face is definitely from the surprise, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. He smiles awkwardly at her, clears his throat. After a beat, she asks, “Is there something I can do for you?”

He looks down at his hands, his empty hands, and then at the floor. She follows his gaze and cocks her head. “Are those yo––” And then, Lord help him, as he nearly drops to the floor to retrieve the dropped passes, she bends too, and they smack heads.  _Fuck_.

“Shit, Agent Scully, Dana, I’m so sorry, here….” He steps back nearly to the elevator and reaches his arm out for her to steady herself on. She doesn’t take it, laughing as she straightens and rubs her temple.

“It’s alright, just a ding.” She has the tickets, so it’s too late to tuck his tail and run for the hills. He gulps as she examines them.

“I don’t know if you had any plans on Sunday, but I’ve been wanting to check out the Observatory, and I know you said you’d never been, and I figured maybe you wanted to go…. With me,” he tacks on quickly, lest she take the tickets and run.

His hearts leaps when she smiles. “These must have been really hard to come by, Pendrell.”

He waves dismissively, shaking his head. “Nah, it was nothing.”  _Not nothing, don’t say nothing, maybe she’ll think you don’t actually want to go_. “I mean, it wasn’t nothing, they didn’t just give them to me when I walked in the door like ‘Hello sir, I’d like two passes please,’ but––”

“I’d love to go,” she interrupts mercifully. She’ll go, and if his ears are right, she’d  _love to go_.

“Great! That’s, yeah, awesome, great! It’s uh, probably better to go at night, but I’m flexible.” There’s definitely going to be a bruise where they knocked heads but he couldn’t care in the slightest. She holds up a finger and turns back into the office.

“It’s going to be a busy week,” she says, emerging with a pen pressed to a pad. “Call me to remind me on Sunday?” She rips the paper and hands it to him, mesmerizing loops of letters and numbers.  _Dana Scully’s phone number_. Wow.

“Sounds great! I’ll do that. Thanks!”  _Thanks?_  Jeez. She smiles though, pats him on the arm.

“Go put some ice on that, it’s going to bruise.” He nods vigorously and pulls his shoulders back. He did it. With a notedly less awkward smile and nod, he heads back towards the elevator.

Emboldened by his success, he finds himself headed to a bar on her actual birthday, to celebrate. And, like it was fate, he passes a jewelry shop on his way there, a small, simple bracelet catching his eye. It’s thin gold, a loose circle, with an anchor charm. Nothing flashy, nothing fancy, but nothing too dainty either. It’s perfect. He doesn’t even pause to ask how much.

Bracelet in his pocket, he orders a beer with the widest of grins. He wants to tell the guy next to him, wants to tell the whole world, about the dazzling Dana Scully but won’t violate her privacy like that. He has a date with Dana Scully on Sunday. He orders a scotch to go with his beer.

He’s warm and tingly and happy, chatting with anyone and everyone, listening to all kinds of stories and reflecting on some good ones himself. And somehow, some way, heaven’s light shines down on him again because the door opens and none other than Dana Scully walks in. He sees her and nearly trips out of his seat to grab her.

“Hey! Birthday girl!”

“Agent Pendrell, how are you doing?” He should really tell her to him Sean if they’re going to be going to the Observatory together. On a date.

“I, I have something for you!” It’s in his pocket, his jeans pocket? What pocket?? “Where have you been?” He hasn’t seen her since he asked her out (and she said yes!).

“I’ve been, uh, gone.” Her eyes are anywhere but him, darting around the room uncomfortably. She shouldn’t look so down on her birthday of all days, and it’s suddenly imperative that he cheers her up.

“Can I buy you a drink?” He asks with the utmost seriousness. He wonders what she likes. Beer? Everyone likes beer.

“No, you know what? That’s okay. I’m with somebody.”

“Oh.”

His heart drops for a moment, and he follows her gaze. But he laughs, because honestly, it’s okay that she’s with someone else – it is! – because she’s entitled to spend her birthday with whomever she likes. Plus, she’s going on a date with  _him_  in five short days. So he’ll buy her a drink, and her man friend a drink, hell everyone in the bar can have a drink! It’s Dana Scully’s birthday. 

He thinks, as the beer bottle shatters, that the bracelet falls out of his pocket. It had been in his jacket pocket after all. He hits the floor and her face is there, her smile is there, his chest is cold and her hands are there. She makes him laugh even when it’s impossible to breathe. He always knew she was an angel.


End file.
